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EU: New web regulator considered

By  |  April 23, 2015

The European Union is considering creating a powerful new regulator to oversee a swath of mainly U.S.- based Internet platforms, according to an internal policy document that lays bare the deep concerns in top EU policy circles around the threat posed by companies like Google and Facebook.

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    Such a move would be the biggest hurdle yet for U.S. Internet firms operating in Europe, many of which are already facing investigations and lawsuits over issues ranging from unfair competition to tax avoidance.

    The paper warns that some online platforms–such as search engines, online marketplaces and social networks–“are transforming into super-nodes that can be of systemic importance for the rest of the economy.”

    “Only a very limited part of the economy will not depend on them in the near future,” it says. It lists 32 examples of such platforms, all but five of which are US based.

     

    Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

     

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